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An Agile Twist: Fixed-Bid Pricing

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• Cognizant 20-20 InsightsAn Agile Twist: Fixed-Bid Pricing Executive Summary The Difficulty of Pricing and Agile Have you recently been asked to create a proposal In the past few years, we have all increasingly using one of the accepted Agile practices, such been receiving requests for proposals (RFPs) that as Scrum or Kanban, to deliver a new project include the use of the Agile methodology, with or program? Is your account manager or client the expectation that we will use the normal asking you to fit this request into a traditional fixed-bid style of contract. Yet, Agile states it is a fixed-bid contract? Yet everything you’ve read time-boxed, flexible-scope methodology. A fixed- says Agile practices do not support a fixed-scope, scope and fixed-priced contract is just as it sounds let alone a fixed-price, contract — and to make — it contains a contractual fixed statement of matters worse, the more research you do on Agile work and a set, predetermined price for the scope practices, the more you realize you are beginning of work. to agree with the experts. If your team is more efficient than expected at As business managers and CIOs in Fortune 1000 performing the work, your profitability numbers companies begin to hear about Agile software will look great. If your team is inefficient, or the development and the benefits of being Agile, leadership overlooked risks on the project (or clients have adopted the view that Agile is a “silver scope-creep occurs), profitability drops, the bullet” that is going to make all things better. project becomes extended, and you may even More and more large companies are seeking ways lose money on the deal. to use Agile principles to develop their next big program. The prospect of not accounting for all potential variances from the get-go typically forces many As you explore the ability to gain agility (which assumptions and risks to be written into tradition- is the organization’s take on the primary benefit al fixed-bid contracts. In the conventional world of of using Agile) while satisfying the need for fixed IT development and services, we have learned — scope and price, you will run into many client- through much trial and error — that the goal is to vendor relationship issues; quite frankly, some of develop a rock-solid statement of work (SoW) that these may be impossible to resolve. is clear to both parties and from which neither party will deviate, accompanied by a series of This white paper will explore and discuss some of immovable change controls. the base issues and investigate an alternative to the orthodox Agile pricing model that can work in This is where the problem begins. When following a fixed-bid model while following as many Agility an Agile practice, the mindset is completely principles as possible to meet the organization’s different: Change is meant to be embraced, not expectations. While you will still need to consider avoided. The experts will say (and most impor- the unique organization issues, the foundational tantly, the client organization will expect) that steps presented below should assist you in getting “easy change” without traditional change control started. is a key benefit of Agile. To make matters more cognizant 20-20 insights | july 2011

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difficult, they will inform you that managers (par- can/will become the foundation of the fixed-bidticularly those on the business side) can change contract, as well.the scope or reprioritize the work as often as To support a fixed-bid proposal, the client andthey wish. This is why many experts will tell you vendor will need to spend one to three monthsthat Agile, by its very nature, is inherently an working on the story backlog. These storiesopen-ended time-and-material (T&M) type of can be epic in nature, as long as the vendor andcontract — which vendors love but clients are client can easily understand the basic scope orhesitant to sign up for. product being defined by the stories.This creates a situation in which the client orga- Stories tend to be better written than thenization is expecting to realize a key purported old traditional requirements, so they lendAgile benefit that change is easy. Management themselves to a clear English-language stylemay even say, “There really is no change control. of elaboration and definition.The business owners can change their mind at The fundamentals of a story are a clearany time.” statement of whom, what and why, along with a clear definition of acceptance criteria,Can you already hear your legal office crying relative sizing and business value rating or pri-foul? And remember, both the software developer oritization based on business value.and client organization want to know how much Here is an example of an effective story: “Asthe project will cost, not to mention how long it a customer service agent, I want to be able towill take. see all the products a customer has purchasedIt is, in fact, possible to develop a fixed-price con- from our company, so that we can servetractual agreement that also accommodates quick our customer as a whole, not just my singleand easier change that results in higher agility. product line.”This solution does not match the model of pricing Example of acceptance criteria: “All six ofin the purists’ Agile world, but it does navigate our separate and independent product linethe troubled waters described above and calms systems will have the customer data displayedthe fears of corporate accountants, lawyers and in the single UI.”top executives. Special note: Whether you are doing the entire project or the first-release approach withinAgile Fixed-Bid Solution your contract, you need to ensure your teamLet’s explore a few steps of how we can modify has decomposed the first release into true,both the fixed-bid theory and the Agile practice workable stories that can be sized for a singleto meet somewhere in the middle. First, it’s iteration or sprint. The stories for the firstimportant to determine whether you are trying release need to be relatively sized in prepara-to complete the entire large program as a fixed tion for Step 2.contract or a first (single) release-type projectas a fixed contract. We recommend starting out • Step 2: Once we have completed the product/with the latter, since it will allow both the vendor program story backlog, it becomes importantand the client to learn about the project goals and to estimate velocity, if you do not alreadyimportant Agile principles such as sustainable know your stable estimated velocity. Doing thisvelocity. As we explore this issue, we will point out requires a random set of stories and askingsome key areas where the approach may differ the Scrum team to break them into tasks andslightly depending on which contract type you are complete a detailed estimate for each task.working toward. Alternatively, if you have time, you can ask them to do the anticipated first iteration orHere are the main steps for your consideration: two worth of stories.• Step 1: The first thing all contracts focus on Special note: If you are taking the whole-con- is the scope or statement of work. There are tract approach, you might want to consider different ways to approach this requirement, doing several iterations worth, up to the first but consistent across all cases is that this step release here. This is especially true if you are is key to a successful contract — as a foundation, conducting a multi-year program. This allows we must have a solid list of stories from which the team to refine as it goes, and you can get to work. The story list or story backlog is the a little more data for your velocity estimate. fundamental bottom-line artifact of Agile and But we caution companies to time-box it to no cognizant 20-20 insights 2

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more than a week’s effort, because no matter everything is based on rough estimates at this how long this early effort takes, you will most point, so this fixed-price contract really should likely still need to re-estimate based on the be for the first release, only. I sometimes like to actual or sustainable velocity that comes into call it the learning-pilot project. Once you get play after five to ten iterations. through release one, you, the client and your team will be much better Once you have done this, the team needs to at estimating for the next The best approach determine what their “ideal” sprint looks like release. Actually, at this in hours. For example: Four developers will is what we call the point, we would suggest you always base your contracts 60/40/20 rule. work 6.5 to 8 hours a day for five days a week, except for Sue and Amid. Sue will only be able on single releases and no to work four to six hours a day for five days more than two or three releases, based on not a week, and Amid is available for six to eight exceeding the magical six-month timeframe by hours, three days a week. a large amount. So if there is a two-week sprint, and we assume one day for sprint planning and two days for • Step 4: At this point, the contract agility buffer retro and demo, then we know we have seven comes into play. We believe there are two work days available. practical ways to introduce and plan for agility Taking the aforementioned hours, we see that in a fixed-bid contract. The most common way the core four members of the team can work is to include some level of capacity buffer, 182 to 224 hours. Sue can work 28 to 42 hours, typically 20% to 40%. The other is some form and Amid can work 36 to 48 hours per sprint. of a scope buffer, which is basically identifying So, that gives us a range of 246 to 314 hours in some percentage as the focus of the project our “ideal” sprint. scope, while the remaining is flexible. We would venture to guess anyone interested Now that we know our ideal sprint size in in this white paper would know how to apply hours, we can now estimate velocity. If we take a capacity buffer and understands the many the stories that have been broken into tasks issues and challenges that come with that and total the estimated hours for all tasks (per type of buffer. So we are not going to spend skill set) within each of the stories, we then can any time here discussing the capacity buffer select how many story points we can put into approach but instead will focus on the scope a sprint. buffer approach. Effectively, this is easy; you want the team The best approach is what we call the 60/40/20 to select the number of stories until the total rule. To be sure, we are not the first to use this hours for the team is somewhere within the style of buffering, but this is our suggested way low and high range. We would suggest for the to approach inserting and planning for Agility first sprint to aim for closer to the low range in a fixed-bid contract. This approach focuses than the high range. the decision process on product owners and• Step 3: This step is focused on release their prioritization and negotiation of the planning, driven by estimated velocity. Based backlog. on the average story points that you determine Effectively, the 60/40/20 rule breaks the can be completed in the velocity estimation release backlog and project scope into a 60%, step, you can now look at your entire backlog 40% and 20% prioritized list. The categories and count how many sprints you will need to are: 60% is “must-have,” 40% is “would like complete all of the backlog. to have,” and, finally, 20% is considered a By placing them into sprints based on the “stretch goal.” velocity and business value, you can then The big chunk of 60% is the main absolute understand where your natural releases are. target of the project, or what we call the While it is optimal to have the same periods for “in-scope” backlog. So you would identify 60% releases, it is not necessary. So, for example, as “must-have” and 40% as being the “would the first release may be a bit longer than like to have.” The 40% is also the target of subsequent releases. the project, but this category also contains Now you should be able to develop your the negotiable items that can be removed and roadmap to your contract. But be wary that replaced during change management. cognizant 20-20 insights 3

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The final “stretch goal,” or 20% of the total 1. There must be a high level of trust devel- project, is a list of items we would work on if oped between the client and vendor regard- we finish the “in-scope” backlog early. ing change control, because the next two required components will not be very suc- Note here: Some teams do not add this 20%, cessful without it. since the idea is that this is a fixed project, so there should be a way to benefit from early 2. The basis of the scope is the selected story delivery. backlog for the release. If the client decides to change a story that has been completed Another note: The 60% “must-have” and 40% (ready for test) or add a new story, then “would like to have” equals the “in-scope” some level of change control is required. backlog, or 100% of the projected delivered Once the new story has been fully defined scope. Additionally, this effectively introduces and accepted, the client should then se- what we call the negative and positive buffers. lect an equally sized item from the original The negative buffer is the “would like to have” backlog to be removed and placed back into 40%, as this is where we negotiate stories. the program backlog instead of the release The “stretch goal” 20% target backlog. Please see the 60/40/20 rule for The foundation of is a positive for the customer, more clarification. At that point, a zero- Agile is that it is in that additional value is cost change control is issued to change the sometimes layered into the fixed-scope portion of the contract.simply a capacity vs. contract scope, beyond what 3. The alternative is that the client wants to need negotiation would normally be provided, add an item to or change a completed item at each sprint if time and budget permits. on the backlog without removing anything Basically, this prioritized list is planning session. where work is selected from from the release backlog. In this case, we would again fully develop the new story, if the “in-scope” backlog is and then once accepted, we would create a finished ahead of schedule. We know this is not cost-type change control based on the siz- normal for fixed-bid contract projects, but we ing. At a minimum, the cost would change suggest you actually deliver from the positive scope, but it would potentially change price to build extreme trust with the client. and time, as well. Always remember, the primary reason for the 60/40/20 rule is to allow for agility within a Moving Forward fixed-price change control process, while main- While this approach will get you through the initial taining the security of a fixed-price contract. phases of Agile implementation, it is important to Careful and thoughtful consideration must look to the future. Agile’s finest benefits are found be made with the client and product owner. in the agility to change, so we need to work toward Once you have completed this list, you simply the development and negotiation of contracts include it, in keeping with the scope section of that better suit Agile development practices. the project. In summary: The 60% is what we absolutely As previously mentioned, Agile best suits a time- need, so if you must remove or change boxed, time-and-materials-style contract. The something already completed, you select and foundation of Agile is that it is simply a capacity remove something from the 40% “would like vs. need negotiation at each sprint planning to have” list and replace it with the changed session. The client organization should be in item of work. direct control of what will be delivered with each sprint or iteration, and the movement of stories With that said, if something in the 60% area up and down the backlog is a simple business is no longer needed, then even that area can value decision and has no impact on the contract be swapped out, by swapping with a story from itself. the “would like to have” 40%. Note: Make sure the teams complete all of the • Step 5: Once you get through Step 4, you now 60% portion before beginning work on the 40% have a sense of time and size. You should be able to create a decent fixed-price contract, negotiable portion. However, there is a caveat — with one outstanding issue: The change control most client companies shy away from time-and- management plan. In essence, there are three material contracts, feeling there is little incentive main components to consider: to produce and finish within a schedule, with cost cognizant 20-20 insights 4

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overruns being very common. Agile actually does this agreement. Either way, the changes tocontrol these issues with the close interaction scope will be handled as a project changethat occurs on a regular, if not daily basis with request.the client organization. Our 60/40/20 rule is a These two assumptions — and the careful wordingmid-way suggestion between T&M (i.e., time and of the change management process — will takematerials) and a full fixed-bid type contract. you a long way toward managing organization- al expectations around change management.The next step toward the time-boxed T&M Remember, this is the most contentious area forcontract is a time-boxed, fixed-capacity style an organization when doing Agile. They will expectcontract. This contract is for a certain length of easy change control, so it istime (commonly six months at a time), for a set important to work closely withnumber of resources during that period. them and make the process as One majorAdditionally, if your team has experience with easy as possible. component toAgile, and you have confidence in the story sizing Additionally, we would strongly successfullyand level of your velocity estimation, you caninclude the estimate number for story points that suggest careful conversa- transitioning to thecan be delivered during the contract time period. tion early in the negotiations Agile practice is to and RFP process to ensure that the client organization have a strong andIf you include an estimated number of storypoints to be delivered, be careful that you have understands and agrees to trusting relationship.completed the analysis phase to determine your the process well in advance ofproduct or release backlog for the contract in the contract delivery. Make sure they “own” thisquestion and that your team has worked together process — this is essential to the success of thislong enough to have a stabilized velocity, so that aproach.you have reasonable confidence in the sizing ofthose stories. Ensuring that good story elabora- Putting Theory into Practicetion has occurred is the most important consid- Agile development practices are becoming theeration, here. rage throughout the information technology development community and, recently, within theImplementation Considerations business community. This is placing pressure onHere are a couple of items to include in your many established teams within client companiescontracts: and pushing vendors to make dramatic changes to the way IT projects are scoped and managed.• Include a special statement in the change control section. We suggest the wording used Unfortunately, this change does not always in the Step 4 section of this white paper as the manifest itself in QA and procurement practices foundation. to support the new way of thinking. But with• Take special care in the assumptions section — the few simple techniques in this white paper, we believe this is crucial to your success with we believe you can successfully negotiate these this approach. Suggested wording for some of murky waters. the assumptions are: There are many different Agile practices to > We assume that any enhancement/change consider, and each may have some nuances that request communicated after the product/ would impact the suggestions discussed above, so release backlog sign-off that is the focal it is important to note here that the Scrum Agile point of this agreement will be treated as a practice approach was the basis of this study. It is project change request (PCR). Management also important to note that your team should use of a PCR will be outlined in the change man- our suggested approach only as a foundation and agement plan. a means for starting the discussion. For example, > A change request should require removal of the 60/40/20 rule is really more of a recommen- scope (i.e., a like-for-like or equal-size story) dation, not a hard-and-fast rule. We suggest that from the “would like to have” 40% scope you set your percentages to what works for you. section of this contract of equally valued items, or it becomes a re-pricing consider- The organization culture will always contain ation. If new scope is added, it will increase special nuances that require careful consider- the stated scope in the scope section of ation, as well. The client organization’s procure- cognizant 20-20 insights 5